Friday, December 30, 2011

Well, one more work week gone and one to go and my mom doesn’t have to leave me.

Ted had part of Monday off, I had to work(regular salary + time and a half), I put in to get the time off if we weren’t busy and was able to leave by 9am. I called Ted to find out where he was and caught him before he left town and met for a late breakfast. The rest of the time before he had to leave in installed some new headlamps and fog lamps on my truck that he gave me for Christmas. He had to leave by one, to get back to SF by 3pm to work.

It was back to work on Tuesday and for as slow as it was on Monday, it was extremely busy and it didn’t stop, Wednesday and Thursday were just as busy. I sure won’t miss this job. It is a good job, but I ‘m ready to get on with the next change in my life, on to a better lifestyle and slower pace.

This is my motivator at work.

The time is here to worry or just give it up. I will probably go with the latter, it doesn’t do any good to worry. It will be whatever it will be. I am still working on what I will do. So far the plan is to stay where I am until the end of January and take that time to pull everything together and then head South.

My plan is to take my time and take CA99 South to Bakersfield and then East to CA395 and South to I10. I plan on stopping in Desert Hot Springs and then in Quartzite before going onto Phoenix where two of my daughters live. I will be there for a while before continuing on to Texas for my first Workamping gig on April 1st. I am hoping to do this as cheaply as possible and will open for any suggestions. Since this is the first time that I will be doing this by myself, I think that I will do approximately 200 miles a day. I would rather not have to unhook and pay for a CG site. I have been keeping track on how long I have before I have to dump my tanks, one week for grey, several weeks for black. I will carry only enough water for basic needs. I have access to my bed and bathroom and the refrigerator with all the slides pulled in. It would be nice to have several options each day so that I can stop when I am too tired to go on. It would be nice too if there is somewhere that I can take Angel for a walk,

A couple more ducks are in place after today. I will be using Escapees as my mail forwarder, so had to get the form notarized mailed today. We’re back at home and it’s time for bed.

Monday, December 26, 2011

I am spending it with my son Ted and friends from church. We went to the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service after having a great Dinner with Karen, Steve, Kyle and their son Spearman.

Just some of what we ordered.

In the morning, even though, we couldn’t be together, I was able to share some of the “going ons” of my daughters and their families via telephone and texted pictures

Then today after Christmas Day Service we had brunch at Steve and Kyle’s where we opened presents and will be going back for dinner. It seems that we eat all day. We finished the day with dinner of a salad, a beef roast with mashed potatoes, roasted butternut squash and cheesecake. Just a wonderful day spent with family and friends.

Friday, December 23, 2011

The solar installation is complete. Tuesday I went into work for a couple of hours and then went home after it got light enough to see what I was doing, so that I could move “My Spot” over to Folsom Lake RV (FLRV) to get the rest of the stuff done, Harry the service manager got George right on it. The Inverter came in on Monday, so that got installed in the front compartment near the two new batteries. There is still room for a portable generator, but that will have to be strapped in so a not to be able to interfere with the inverter. He also finished whatever he had to do in the control panel. I can now see the percentage of all the tanks rather that the lights that I couldn’t figure out.

Harry next to the new control panel George installing the inverter

I was going to go back to work for a few hours, but that wouldn’t be possible because I didn’t have any place to leave Angel, (I couldn’t leave her in the truck). Instead I went over to the Social Security office to see what I have to do to sign up for Part B. She gave me the forms that I had to get my employer to fill out. I then took a run out to IKEA to check out their Chair/Bed and how much it would weigh. I also shopped in the Swedish Food section to stock up on some things that I usually get there. On the way back I stopped off at the HR Department at my work to get the papers filled out, but had to make an appointment. Then it was back to FLRV to see how they were progressing.

I made it home just before dark. There was this magnificent sunset, unfortunately no picture. With help from some neighbors as spotters, I got the rig in place, avoiding the tree, water tank and another parked RV. It was already dark while I did the hookups. I had a problem getting the water hooked up, even though I had a “quick connect” connection. I just gave up and put some water in the tank so that I would have water in the morning and just use the pump. Then went inside and put most everything away. No fireplace and the tuner for the TV wouldn’t come on. I was too tired to figure it out, so it was off to bed. Three o’clock comes awfully early. I would just deal with it when I got back home from work. I just will have to get used to all the little “hiccups” and deal with them one at a time. Such is life of a full-timer.

The other thing that I did on Tuesday was to give my notice at work. I will retire on , drum roll please January 5, 2012. with the holidays, that’s only 7 days that I have to work. It sure is a bit scary, reducing my income by so much. So now the count is on. I will probably pay my park rent for January and take that time to corral the rest of the ducks.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

I finally put up my tree. The rest is going up in stages, since I still have to take the rig to the dealer for more work. The tree is easy as I just wrap it up in the chair cover and put it on the sofa when I pull in the slide.

Friday was spent doing some Christmas shopping. I did girls’ and grandkids while I was in AZ. Only Ted was left. No, Ted, I’m not reporting here what I got for you. It’s hard enough keeping secrets from you. I know that my kids read my blog, but rarely comment.

Saturday, more shopping. I had to get the makings for “truffles” for a potluck at work. It is a very easy recipe, just Oreos, crushed and mixed with cream cheese, rolled into small ball (they are very rich) and dipped in something, (cocoa, powdered sugar, sprinkles, chocolate or whatever you like). I chose chocolate, white, red and green. I then decorated them, easy but time consuming. After forming them I put them into the freezer to make them easier to handle them while dipping.

While out I spotted a group doing a Car Wash as a fund raiser for Teen Challenge. I have been planning to do it myself, but kept putting off and then it got too cold for me. I did a U turn and got in line for them do it for a donation.

With everyone working, it took all of 10/15 minutes. They did a great job.

Sunday, after church I went over to FLRV,where they had a major event, lunch for their customers and they were giving away a brand new Springdale TT, along with other door prizes.

It was fun and I met a few wannabes, Several were also planning on doing it solo. Unfortunately, I didn’t win anything.

After returning home, I just caught up on reading the adventures of fellow bloggers and dipping the candy in the above picture. They are peppermint truffles. I still have to dip the peanut butter truffles.

picture from the Garner State Park website

And now the News! Yesterday I got an email from Rick at Garner State Park in the Texas Hill Country with an offer to work/volunteer in their visitor center, my choice as a start date. So it looks like I will be spending the summer in Texas. It is not too far from where my sister lives and my daughter and grandkids are a little farther, so the plans are to spend some time with them too. I don’t have any details yet, so those will come later.

I think that when I go back to work I will give them January 5th 2012 as my retirement date. Wow, just putting down an actual date is really scary. I could stay until the end of the month for the money, but then I wouldn’t have time to herd those ducks. There is so much last minute stuff to be done, mail forwarding, change my domicile state, get the Medicare and supplemental insurance started, just to list a few. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to get it all done.

Work wasn’t too bad this past week, decorating our team area for Christmas and the World Class CSR Luncheon. This year our area is a Christmas Forest. I would make all those trees in between calls.

I used many that I saved from last year, but made an additional 100+ this year.

Close to 90% of our CSRs are World Class, so they had a luncheon to celebrate. (actually several over 3 days to accommodate everyone) We even had “entertainment”, our management staff “dancing as the stars”. Very entertaining, although you’d never get me to do it.

Since I have been back from Phoenix, I have been trying to get all my ducks in a row, lining up doctors’ appointments and trying to set up something for Workamping, continued getting rid of more stuff and getting solar installed on “My Spot”.

I made a couple of appointments for annual follow up visits for past surgeries. Wouldn’t you know it, both were on the same day as the new date for the solar install. Earlier I had called a Texas State Park near where my sister lives about volunteering and was having some problems downloading an application. Ted said that he can help with that when he comes home.

Ted got here for Sunday and Monday. Sunday we went to church and and afterwards we loaded the armoires out of storage and into his truck and then delivered them, one to Gypsy and one to church. With that done we went home and prepared the rig for the move to the dealer in the morning.

As you all know the solar install was postponed. I finally took it to the dealer (Folsom Lake RV) last Monday. We had it at the dealer by 6:30am and then went out for breakfast and was back at the dealer by 7:30am. Harry was there with his helper by then and had moved it back to their shop and had brought my truck out front.

It was a very busy day. From there we went back to my storage unit and loaded the heat press and the extra product to take to James, who does the same type of business that I had planned on doing, but on a large scale. There were only a couple of other things in storage that would fit in the shed at my site, FINALLY! The storage shed is empty, no more $$ going out as a lost cause. With that done I kept both doctors’ appointments and the headed back to FLRV to see how they were doing with the install.

The W/D had been installed as well as the TV antenna. (In answer to Barbara’s question, the name of it is Wineguard Roadstar

The solar panels are installed along with two more batteries, but there was a problem with the inverter. It was bad and they had to send for another. Needless to say, I will still have to return another day. It’s a good thing that I am not in a hurry or I might be a bit frustrated.

Another work week gone, even 3 days is too long, but it just gets me closer to retirement. It’s weird, the closer that it gets, the more scared I become. It will be such a big change. As much as I want this, doing it alone is tuff. Barbara, Judy and all the other single ladies, did you all go through these same thoughts and feelings? and how did you handle it?

I guess that brings me up to today, Thursday. I left a couple of hours early to start the prep for another move back to FLRV. The inverter came in. Another hic-up! They sent the wrong one! This time I got Harry’s call before I got everything done. No extra practice today. The are trying to get the correct inverter shipped overnight from Portland Oregon.

I’ve been busy, but just couldn’t get myself to write,so, waited to post this so that I could add pictures. I’ll get caught up regarding status on the “ducks” and reporting some news.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

One more work week gone, one week closer to fulltiming. The count down begins! I’m not sure of the exact date, but I think that it will be in January sometime. I will have those loose ends to tie up.

Thursday, after work, I dumped the tanks and got everything inside put away for clearing for the slides to come in for moving. I would be taking “My Spot” in to the dealer to install solar on the roof and also a W/D by 7:00 in the morning.

Friday, I was up early as usual to finish up the last minute things inside and then I started on the outside. This would be the first time that I would be doing everything by myself. Well physically by myself. Ted was in my ear. I called him just to make sure that I didn’t forget anything and did it all in the right order. All that I had left to do was plug it into the truck and check my lights etc. Then I get a call from Harry at Folsom Lake RV to let me know that some of the parts didn’t come in, so they couldn’t do the install. Evidently he had left a couple of messages on my phone to call him, but my phone was on vibrate and I didn’t get them. I could have brought it in to install the W/D, but decided to wait and have it all done on the same day. Of course he was apologetic and will get the parts where ever he can, even if they cost more, still at the same quote. I told Harry that it’s not like I have to have it right away,so that I will have time to learn how to live with solar and if anything has to be adjusted I will still be around to adjust or fix as needed. He made some calls and the parts will be in, half on Wednesday and the other half on Thursday. The new install date is the 12th. I also have an appointment with the orthopedic doctor that afternoon and a Christmas party in the evening. The install will take a full workday, so it will be a very busy day.

Anyway, after I got the call, I just reversed the process and put the jacks down and re-leveled the rig. Some people would get frustrated with the postponement, but I look at it as practice. Now I know that I can do it by myself. The confidence just got a little bit stronger.

Later I went out to do a bit of shopping and stopped by FLRV to talk to Harry. I had some problems getting the rig ready, one was unhooking the water. I just unhooked it from the faucet and rolled it into the compartment where the hookups are. I think I figured out how to make that easier. I just got a quick connect “thingy” from Home Depot. The other thing that I have a problem with is cranking the TV antenna down because of where it is located and I have a problem with my shoulder, so I had Harry order another type of antenna that doesn’t need to go up or down.

Saturday, I didn’t do too much, didn’t even go outside. I steam mopped the floors, gathered up all the laundry (I still haven’t done it) and started to catch up on reading all the blogs that I follow.

Sunday, after church, I did the same and later went back to church for the evening Advent Service. That’s about how my weekend went. I hope that you all are having a great weekend.